Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Spectator or Participator

A celebrity in Korea was asked how come he was so glib with his
words. His secret was to read books and the newspapers. His family was
poor so he never considered college; his eloquence, he says, comes from
reading. These are the words that the columnist, a religious sister,
uses to begin her column on the making of hidden spectators on SNS.

The
power of words comes from a person's character. Word and life have to
meet. When one speaks too much one doesn't have control over all the
words spoken. When she lectures for a few hours, at
the end she often feels empty. She says things that she herself is not able to
practice and is filled with shame. She says a lot of good things but at
the same time there are a lot of meaningless words that she utters.
Isn't this the reason the pope said:"Those who don't abuse with the tongue are saints." SNS
at present overflows with complaints and abuse. According to
neurologists, she says, online is becoming overcome with negativity.
The internet more than in real life is rampant with lies and fraud. One
scholar went so far as to say that the more one is online we have an increase
of negativity, and the possibility of encountering harmful relationships. The ability to
control oneself will diminish, loneliness, depression, and stress will appear because of
the inability to control oneself.

How much of
what we hear on line do we pass on to others? Ordinarily do we pass on
the scandals we hear about celebrities and politicians? When we
are face to face with others we do not find it easy to just blurt out,
without thought, what we think, but why is it on SNS we have the ease of
saying whatever comes to mind?

We are spectators that's
why, she answers. A spectator knows what is going on in the world and
enjoys talking about it. A spectator is mostly concerned about
oneself. Sees from afar, whether it is the other, an incident or
oneself there is no responsibility for what is seen. Only the emotion
and thought is what is real: attached to one's feelings and
unconcerned about the feelings of another. The words of a spectator are
light and flippant. One is not involved directly, just a sightseer and
stays hidden in his or her place: not one to go on the stage for all
to see.With this in mind we can see how SNS helps one
to hide in the group as a spectator. This is different from one who
reads, who becomes a participant: meeting of the author and the
reader.The participator is conscious of feelings and takes responsibility for them, more than feelings, however, we have likes and
dislikes expressed. Experience and knowledge is chewed over, purified discerned, chosen and
put in order.The participator has to be responsible to himself quite different from the spectator.